Monday, September 17, 2012

Hi Folks
Thought I would give you an update on what’s been happening at the shed. The numbers are on the rise and we continue to get enquiries from both individuals and other organisations who feel their members would benefit from utilising the shed.

The Sheddies have been doing odd jobs for the manager Philippa, at the Soup kitchen, such as repairing the outdoor benches; they are also in the process of constructing a large wooden tool chest for the sisters who have the community gardens in Island bay; the second lot of educational toy have been finished and returned to Hataitai Play Centre - the staff and parents are over the moon and another plate of homemade cookies was presented. I was lucky enough to be there and got a sample chocolate chip this time just like mum used to make, we have taken a third box of equipment that is in need of some TLC away.

I had a call from Clifton Tce school who wants us to build them a recycling station so they can separate paper, plastic and glass so Ron and I went up and measured up their job and met the staff, one of whom has an 80 year old father who is a retired watchmaker and also likes to make toys, and has made one every year out of wood and donates them to the likes of Women’s Refuge, He has done this for the past 50 years - anyway he is keen as mustard to go to the shed so I have been in touch and given him all the details It just so happened that as we were on the phone the time turned to midday and his whole house started chiming from all the clocks he must have - it was funny as I could hardly hear him for about thirty seconds.

Ron has been working with the City Mission and continues to help with different projects. At present he is in the process of turning a bathroom into a storage room with wall to wall shelves, as they need as much space as they can find, to store the xmas hampers they give away to our less fortunate in the community, with Christmas around the corner .

A teacher from Kilbirnie primary school has been in touch wanting to get one off the Sheddies to come and take a class of 5-6 year olds and show them how cogs and pullies work, and also set them a basic task to complete. We have a retired builder who is in negotiation with the teacher.

Ron was telling me everyone is getting along well to the point when the sun showed its face the other day they had a whip round and had an impromptu BBQ.
So things are ticking over really well, anyway till next report
bye for now.
Regards

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

We had an artist who has been painting Murals around Wellington to try to curb graffiti approach us about painting a Mural on our roller door, as it had been tagged and looked unsightly With the Sisters blessing we gave him the go ahead and that has been completed and looks great. We have some Sheddies building planter boxes out of pallets we had been given by Bunnings. Some old fashioned wooden Jig Saw puzzles owned by Paparanga Kindergarten had pieces missing which the Sheddies have replaced and painted. A Sheddie has started doing some traditional Maori carving. Another Sheddie who has all the right tools and is cleaning up Paua shells and carving out animal and butterfly shapes to make Mobiles for babies cots. Another job is coming up for the Wellington City Mission - they need shelves built. They were so pleased with the food donation box that Ron, one of our coordinators made, we are going to be getting all their jobs. The donation box is so bright and impressive at the supermarket that the likes of the SPCA had a new box made because ours made theirs look shabby. So it’s all go atTHE SHED.